Carton forming and filling machine



May 14, 1968 F. 1.. HOF'F 3,382,776

CARTON FORMING AND FILLING MACHINE Filed March 7, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR FRANCIS L. HOFF WWW ATTORNEY May 14, 1968 F. L. HOFF CARTON FORMING AND FILLING MACHINE 5 SheetsSheet Filed March 7,

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CARTON FORMING AND FILLING MACHINE Filed March 7, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet s INVENTOR FRANCIS L. HOFF ATTORNEY May 14, 1968 F. HOFF CARTON FORMING AND FILLING MACHINE 5 SheetsSheet 4 Filed March 7, 1966 .F'II3 11 INVENTOR FRANCIS L. HOF'F ATTORNEY May 14, 1968 F. 1.. HOFF 3,382,776

CARTON FORMING AND FILLING MACHINE Filed March 7. 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 98 99 46a 1 f 9 E.

INVENTOR FRANCIS L. HOFF BY WMW ATTORNEY 3,382,776 CARTON FORMING AND FILLING MACHINE Francis L. Hotl, Santa Clara, Calif., assignor to FMC Corporation, San Jose, Calif., a corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 7, 1966, Ser. No. 532,173 9 Claims. (Cl. 93-441) The present invention pertains to carton forming and filling machine and more particularly relates to an improved flap folding and sealing apparatus.

In carton forming and filling machines of the type disclosed in copending United States Vadas et al., application Ser. No. 461,738, which was filed on June 7, 1965, a thermoplastic carton is placed on a mandrel with its bolom closure flaps projecting outwardly therefrom. The flaps are prebent, are heated to a bonding temperature, are swung past a roller plow which folds the bottom closure flaps into sealing position, and are then progressively indexed into a preliminary sealing station and a final sealing station, A preliminary sealing head having a smooth surfaced press plate thereon slidably receives the folded flaps from the roller plow at the preliminary sealing station and applies an initial sealing force to the flaps. The flaps are thereafter indexed into the final sealing station where a rough surfaced press plate having pressure localizing abutments projecting outwardly therefrom applies a final sealing force to the bottom closure flaps.

In accordance with the present invention it has been discovered that the final sealing station may be eliminated when the rough surfaced press plate is substituted for the smooth surface press plate at the preliminary sealing station and when a slide plate, which cooperates with the roller plows, is secured to the sealing head at the preliminary sealing station and retains the flaps spaced from the rough surfaced press plate until the cartons have been indexed into sealing position. It has been determined that elimination of the slide plate from the flap folding combination causes one edge of the carton flaps to contact the rough slide plate surface during the indexing movement thereby scufiing or folding said flap edge outwardly which detrimentally affects the seal as well as the appearance of the bottom closure.

It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide an improved fiap folding and sealing apparatus.

Another object is to provide a flap folding and sealing apparatus wherein rolling and sliding means cooperate to guide the carton flaps past the rough surface of the sealing press plate without contacting the rough surface during the indexing movement of the carton into sealing position.

Another object is to provide an economical flap folding and sealing apparatus which consistently provided fluid-tight seals of good appearance.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan illustrating the fiap folding and sealing apparatus of the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a vertical section taken along lines 22 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a vertical section taken along lines 3-3 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a horizontal section taken along lines 4-4 of FIGURE 2 illustrating a sealing head in an active sealing position.

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged perspective of one of the sealing heads showing the slide plate thereon, and illustrating a pair of rollers in phantom.

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged horizontal section taken along lines 66 of FIGURE 2 and illustrating a mandrel nited States Patent 0 with a carton thereon leaving the roller plow and moving across the slide plate.

FIGURE 7 is a section similar to FIGURE 6 but illustrating the carton indexed at the sealing station.

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged vertical section taken substantially along lines 8-8 of FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 9 is a vertical section through the end of a carton and through a portion of the mandrel taken along the lines 99 of FIGURE 8.

FIGURE 10 is a erspective of the bottom closure of a carton with the end flaps partially open.

FIGURE 11 is a perspective similar to FIGURE 10 but with the bottom closure flaps sealed.

FIGURE 12 is an enlarged vertical section taken along lines 1212 of FIGURE 1 illustrating a portion of the actuating mechanism for the sealing head.

FIGURE 13 is a plan of the drive for the turret and bottom sealer, the turret being illustrated in phantom.

In general, the flap folding and sealing apparatus 20 (FIGS. 1 and 2) of the present invention comprises a turret 22 having an upper series 24 and a lower series 26 (FIG. 2) of mandrels 28 projecting radially outward therefrom. An open thermoplastic tubular carton C (FIGS 10 and 11) is inserted on each mandrel 28 with heated and prebent flaps of the bottom closure BC (FIGS. 10 and 11) projecting outwardly therefrom. The turret then swings each mandrel 28 across an arcuate roller plow 30, which plow folds the flaps together into substantially planar relationship as the carton is being swung into a sealing station ST. As the bottom closure BC is leaving the roller plow 30, the bottom closure flaps ride over a centrally disposed slide plate 32 which is attached to a sealing head 34 of a bottom sealer 36. The slide plate 32 and a pair of concentric end rollers 38 of the roller plow cooperate to maintain the bottom closure flaps spaced from the rough surface of a press plate 40 until the carton is indexed at the sealing station ST. The bottom sealer 36 is then activated to squeeze the bottom closure fiaps beween the press-plate 40 of the sealing head 34 and the associated mandrel 28 thereby sealing the bottom closure flaps to provide a fluid tight seal. The sealing pressure is then released and the particular man drel having the carton with the sealed bottom closure thereon is moved away from the sealing station permitting the next mandrel and carton to enter the same.

More particularly, the bottom sealer 36 (FIGS. 1 to 4) comprises a sub-frame 46 which is bolted to the main frame 46a of the flap folding and sealing apparatus 20. The sub-frame 46 includes a base plate 47 which is integral with a tubular hub 48 and an upstanding bracket 49. A vertically extending, head actuating body 51 is pivotally mounted in the hub 48 on bearings 52 and 53 (FIG. 2), the bearing 53 being held on a reduced diameter portion 54 of the body 51 by locknuts 56. A shroud 57 formed integrally with the .body 51 is fitted .over the upper end of the tubular hub 48 and is sealed thereto by packing rings 58. An apertured cap 59 is bolted to the lower end of the hub 48, has an oil seal 61 fitted therein and is rotatably received on the reduced diameter portion 54 of the body 51. The body 51 is pivoted through a predetermined arcuate range relative to the sub-frame 46 by motion imparted to an actuating lever 62 which is rigidly clamped on the lower end of the reduced diameter portion 54 of the body 51.

A pair of ears 63 are integral with and project outwardly from the side of the body 51 near the upper end thereof. One end of a toggle link 64 is received on a bolt 65 journalled in the ears 63. The .other end of the toggle link 64 receives a pivot bolt 66 that is journalled in bearings 67 fitted in a pair of parallel arms 68 of a .bell crank 69 (FIG. 4) which includes a hub 71 and a second pair of parallel arms 72 (FIG. 2) projecting outwardly from and formed integrally with the arms 68. The hub 71 of the crank 69 is pivoted about a bolt 73 that is secured to the bracket 49 (FIG. 3) while the free end of the arms 72 are pivoted on a bolt 74 secured to a sealing head mounting bracket 76 having a control arm 77 formed integrally therewith and projectin outwardly therefrom. The free end of the control arm '77 is pivotally connected by a bolt 78 to one end of a link 79. The other end of the link '79 is pivoted on a reduced diameter stub shaft 31 formed on the upper end of the body 51. As best shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, the pair of bottom sealing ends 34 are each secured to the mounting bracket 76 by four bolts 86 which are slidably received in holes in the bracket 76. A compression spring 87 encompasses each bolt and is disposed between the bracket 76 and the associated sealing head 34. The springs 87 urge the associated head 34 outwardly with sufiicient force to insure proper sealing of the bottom closure flaps but will yield prior to applying a force strong enough to adversely affect the bottom closure seal. A sealing pressure within the range of 300 to 400 p.s.i. gauge has been found to be adequate to properly seal the bottom closures.

As indicated in FIGURE 2, one head 34 is disposed in alignment with the mandrel 28 of the upper series 24 that is indexed at the sealing station ST while the other head 34 is disposed in alignment with the mandrel 28 of the lower series 26 that is indexed at station ST. One of the aforementioned carton engaging press plates 41 (FIG.

) is bolted to each sealing head 34 and is provided with a horizontal groove 91 which accommodates the extra wall thickness due to the presence of a lip L (FIGS. 8, and 11) of a long fiap LF overlapping a portion of a short flap SF of the bottom closure BC. The press plate is also provided with a plurality of raised generally rectangular bosses 94 and circular bosses 95 which partially crush certain critical areas of the bottom closure flaps to block potential flow passages therein arising from the manner in which the bottom closure flaps are folded.

Since the press plates 40 are heated by the hot bottom closure flaps being sealed, cooling water is circulated through passages 92 in each head 34 by supplying conduits 93 (only one being shown in FIGURE 5) thereby cooling the heads.

In order to actuate the bottom sealer 36, a double-armed bell crank 97 (FIGS. 1 and 12) is pivotally mounted on a vertically extending shouldered shaft 98 which is rigidly secured to and projects downwardly from a bracket 99 by a nut 1011 that is screwed on the upper end of the shaft 98. The brackets 99 are bolted to the frame 46a adjacent a continuously driven cam 101.

The bell crank 97 is of two-piece construction and includes a hub 1G2 which is pivotally mounted on bearings 103 and 164 secured to the shaft 98 by locknuts 106. A crank arm 107 is formed integrally with the hub 1G2 and has a cam follower 108 journalled thereon which is received in a cam groove 109 in the cam 101. A cap 111 having an arm 112 (FIG. 1) projecting outwardly therefrom is bolted to the lower end of the hub 102. An adjustable link 114 (FIG. 1) pivotally connects the arm 112 to the actuating lever 62 of the bottom sealer 36.

A drive train (FIG. 13) is provided for actuating the bottom sealer 36 in timed relation with the intermittent movement of the turret 22. The drive train 1211 receives power from a variable speed motor M which is connected by a belt drive 122 to an overload clutch 124, such as a Maxitorq clutch, Model No. 24 marketed by Carlyle Johnson Company, 52 Main Street, Manchester, Connecticut. The clutch 124 drives a gear reducer 126 having an output shaft 128 connected by a flexible coupling 130 to the input shaft 132 of a gear box 134 of an intermittent driving unit 136 which driving unit includes a. vertically extending intermittently driven shaft 138 to which the turret 22 is connected. A continuously driven output shaft 140' of the gear box 134 has the previously 2 described cam 101 keyed thereon. Thus, pivotal movement .of the bell crank 97 (FIG. 12) by the cam 1111 causes the bottom sealing head 34 to be actuated in timed relation with the intermittent movement of the turret 22.

An important feature of the present invention is the use of the slide plate 32 which cooperates with the pair of concentric end rollers 38 on the discharge end of the roller plow 30 to maintain the bottom closure flaps SF and LP in their flat folded condition while these flaps are being swung over the press plate 40 into the sealing station ST. Thus, the rollers 38 and slide plate 32 cooperate to assure that the flaps are moved into sealing position without being scuffed by the bosses 94 and 95.

As best shown in FIGURES 57, each slide plate 32 is connected to the associated sealing head 34 by capscrews 1541 which extend through slots 151 in the plate 32 and are screwed into the head 34. The slide plate 32 includes a flap contacting surface 152 which is inclined approximately 15 relative to the face of the press plate 40 from a curved leading edge 154 to a curved trailing edge 156.

When handling cartons having a square bottom closure with sides that are approximately 2 /4 inches in length, it has been found that placement of the trailing edge 156 of the slide plate 32 approximately of an inch above the surface of the press plate 40 is sufficient to prevent the flaps from engaging the bosses 94 or 95 during movement into the sealing station ST. It is to be understood, however, that if cartons of different sizes or cartons having different wall thicknesses are being handled, the resilience tending to open the flaps will be altered and accordingly the slide plate 32 may be moved toward or away from press plate 41) by means of the slots 151 and cooperating capscrews to compensate for this difference. It will also be understood that any change in speed of the turret from the normal speed of approximately 60 cartons per minute for each series of mandrels may also require that adjustments be made in the positions of the slide plate 32.

The concentric rollers 38 of each roller plow, which roller plows are fixed to the frame of the machine and are fully described in the aforementioned Vadas et al. application, cooperates with the slide plate 32 to hold the flaps spaced from bosses 94 and 95 during the transfer operation. It will be observed from FIGURE 6 that the concentric rollers 38 substantially flatten the flaps SF and LF against the mandrel 28, and that the slide plate 32 thereafter completely flatten the carton flaps.

After the cartons have been moved into the sealing station ST, the sealing head 34 is moved against the bottom closure BC of the associated carton C causing the lip L (FIGS. 8 and 11) to be received in the slot 91 of the press plate 40 and causes the rectangular bosses 94 and circular bosses 95 to partially crush the carton material along certain fold lines of the bottom closure of the car ton. Accordingly, the localized forces effected by the bosses applied a positive indentation in potential flow areas formed in the bottom closure BC due to the manner in which the flaps are folded, which indentations extend transversely across all flow passages in the bottom closure BC resulting in a leak-proof bottom closure.

In order to firmly resist the sealing pressures applied by the sealing head 34, each mandrel includes a flap engaging head 160 with a raised triangular portion 161 on the flap engaging surface. The triangular portion of the head 160 is received opposite the central portion of the lip L within a triangular-shaped cavity 162 defined by side flaps 163 and 164 (FIGS. 9 and 10) which, when folded into sealing position defines double thickness triangleshaped inner edges 163a and 164a (FIG. 9).

When the bottom sealer 36 is in the active position of FIGURE 1, the sealer 36 is adjusted so that a clearance of approximately 0.35 inch is present between the plate 49 and the raised triangular portion 161 of the mandrel head 160 when no cartons are present on the mandrel. When a carton is present on a mandrel, the spacing between the plate 40 and the mandrel head 160 is determined by the wall thickness of the bottom closure flaps disposed therebetween. The springs 87 are provided so as to accommodate different flap thicknesses. It will be noted that during application of sealing pressure, the linkages are arranged so that the axes of bolts 65, 66 and 81 (FIG. 4) lie in a common plane thereby substantially locking the heads in sealing position eliminating the need for prolonged sealing forces being applied directly from the cam 101.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that the flap folding and sealing apparatus of the present invention includes a slide plate that is carried by a reciprocable sealing head that cooperates with concentric rollers of a stationary roller plow to guide the flaps of a carton past rough abutment surfaces of a press plate thereby eliminating scufling of the flaps and making it possible to complete the sealing operation in one step.

While one embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described, it Will be understood that changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

The present invention and the manner in which the same is to be used having thus been described, what is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is:

1. A flap folding and sealing apparatus comprising support means including a pressure resisting head for supporting a thermoplastic carton having end closure flaps heated to a bonding temperature and projecting out wardly therefrom, means for moving said support means past the folding station and into a sealing station, flap folding means at said folding station for folding said flaps into substantially planar relationship, a sealing head at said sealing station movable between a retracted position spaced from said pressure resisting head and a sealing position urging said end closure flaps against said pressure resisting head, said sealing head having a rough surfaced carton engaging face, a slide plate secured to said sealing head and cooperating with said flap folding means to maintain said flaps in spaced relation from said rough surfaced face while said carton is moving into said sealing position and until after said support means has indexed the carton into said sealing station, and pressure applying means for thereafter moving said sealing head from said retracted position to said sealing position to apply a squeezing force against said flaps thereby sealing the end closure flaps.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said flap folding means includes a pair of rollers disposed immediately adjacent said slide plate.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said slide plate include a flap contacting surface which is angled outwardly in the direction of movement of the carton ap proximately 15 relative to the plane of the carton engaging face.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the rough surfaced carton engaging face is defined by a plurality of rectangular bosses and circular bosses arranged to partially crush the material from which the flaps are made during the sealing operation thereby blocking potential flow passages in the end closure.

5. An apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said rollers are concentric and are disposed immediately adjacent said slide plate.

6. An apparatus according to claim 5 wherein the concentric axis of said rollers is fixed and wherein said slide plate is disposed between the planes of said rollers.

7. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said pressure applying means includes a toggle linkage having three pivot points, and wherein the axes of said three pivot points are moved into a common plane during the flap sealing operation.

8. An apparatus according to claim 7 wherein resilient means are included in said pressure applying means and are adapted to apply substantially the same sealing force to the flaps of all cartons regardless of variations in flap thicknesses.

9. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein means are provided for adjusting the position of the slide plate on said sealing head.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,225,666 12/1965 Reimers 9344.1 3,252,386 5/1966 Reimers 9344.1

TRAVIS S. MCGEHEE, Primary Examiner. 

1. A FLAP FOLDING AND SEALING APPARATUS COMPRISING SUPPORT MEANS INCLUDING A PRESSURE RESISTING HEAD FOR SUPPORTING A THERMOPLASTIC CARTON HAVING END CLOSURE FLAPS HEATED TO A BONDING TEMPERATURE AND PROJECTING OUTWARDLY THEREFROM, MEANS FOR MOVING SAID SUPPORT MEANS PAST THE FOLDING STATION AND INTO A SEALING STATION, FLAP FOLDING MEANS AT SAID FOLDING STATION FOR FOLDING SAID FLAPS INTO SUBSTANTIALLY PLANAR RELATIONSHIP, A SEALING HEAD AT SAID SEALING STATION MOVABLE BETWEEN A RETRACTED POSITION SPACED FROM SAID PRESSURE RESISTING HEAD AND A SEALING POSITION URGING SAID END CLOSURE FLAPS AGAINST SAID PRESSURE RESISTING HEAD, SAID SEALING HEAD HAVING A ROUGH SURFACED CARTON ENGAGING FACE, A SLIDE PLATE SECURED TO SAID SEALING HEAD AND COOPERATING WITH SAID FLAP FOLDING MEANS TO MAINTAIN SAID FLAPS IN SPACED RELATION FROM SAID ROUGH SURFACED FACE WHILE SAID CARTON IS MOVING INTO SAID SEALING POSITION AND UNTIL AFTER SAID SUPPORT MEANS HAS INDEXED THE CARTON INTO SAID SEALING STATION, AND PRESSURE APPLYING MEANS FOR THEREAFTER MOVING SAID SEALING HEAD FROM SAID RETRACTED POSITION TO SAID SEALING POSITION TO APPLY A SQUEEZING FORCE AGAINST SAID FLAPS THEREBY SEALING THE END CLOSURE FLAPS. 